Anatoly Offengenden wins Sarasota Chess Academy October Open

Sarasota Chess Academy celebrated National Chess Day by organizing a 5-round USCF tournament in the G&G Bridge Club on Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota. The 18 participants were a mix of strong experts, aspiring youth players and experienced seniors.

Gabriel Morris played his first USCF tournament and booked his first victory. Tournament Director Han Schut awarded Gabriel for his courage and performance with the book ‘Strike Like Judith!’, a fitting prize as Judith Polgar organized today the Global Chess Festival (#ChessConnectsUs).

Anatoly Offengenden won first place with 4.5 points out of 5 games ahead of Elio Arencibia and Marco Jimenez with 4 points.

The last round game between Anatoly Offengenden (white) and Munir Ben Jemaa (Black)

Elio Arencibia, who quickly drew his 5th round game, watches and evaluates his chances for first place.

Anatoly won a pawn on the kingside and was able to convert his advantage in the endgame by promoting the pawn.

There were several major upsets. For instance, Nick Lewis won against Miodrag Stojanovic and Martin Sanchez de la Cruz beat Munir Ben Jemaa. Both Nick and Martin were rated approximately 500 points below their opponents.

The next round Martin Sanchez de la Cruz again had very good chances in the all Cuban match up against Yandri Morales. See the diagram below (White, who is in check, to move). Martin, playing White, threatens to mate with Rxg6 hxg6 Qxg6 and just has to find a way to walk out of the checks of the Queen on a3 and the Knight on d5. Kd1 looks dangerous because of Nc3+ but after Ke1 it is all over and White wins. (Notice that Qh6 covers the square c1!). Unfortunately Martin decided to run with his king to e4 and after Yandri’s desperado Nf6!?!+ Martin played Rxf6? allowing Rxd4! mate. Kf4 (instead of Rxf6) would have resulted in an about equal game. If you can beat Munir and bring Yandri to the brink of defeat then you are definitely worth more than a 1600 rating!

The prize for Under 1600 was shared by Marin Sanchez de la Cruz, Colby Pau Farraro and Nick Lewis.

Colby Pau Farraro won 2 games outplaying his young opponents in the endgame.

Nick Lewis gained 135 rating points today! Anatoly Offengenden is now rated above 2200 and has to maintain his rating for another 11 games to be awarded the National Master title.

#

Place

Name

Rtng

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Tot

1

1

ANATOLY OFFENGENDEN

2184

W7

W10

D2

W4

W5

4.5

2

2-3

ELIO OT ARENCIBIA

2088

W8

W12

D1

W10

D4

4.0

3

MARCO A JIMENEZ

1780

W16

L4

W8

W6

W10

4.0

4

4

YANDRI MORALES

2154

W13

W3

W6

L1

D2

3.5

5

5-8

MUNIR BEN JEMAA

2081

W15

L6

W7

W12

L1

3.0

6

MARTIN SANCHEZ DE LA CRUZ

1597

W18

W5

L4

L3

W13

3.0

7

COLBY PAU FERRARO

1457

L1

W11

L5

W9

W14

3.0

8

NICHOLAS LEWIS

1322

L2

W9

L3

W11

W12

3.0

9

9

ROHAN DASH

1149

D11

L8

W16

L7

W17

2.5

10

10-14

STEVEN LEVERICH

1900

W14

L1

W13

L2

L3

2.0

11

MIODRAG STOJANOVIC

1872

D9

L7

W14

L8

D15

2.0

12

CHRISTOPHER KORDA

1626

W17

L2

W15

L5

L8

2.0

13

RICK KNOWLTON

1445

L4

W16

L10

W18

L6

2.0

14

JACK ZHOU

1250

L10

W17

L11

W15

L7

2.0

15

15

BENJAMIN JIANG

1261

L5

W18

L12

L14

D11

1.5

16

16-18

LOGAN ASHER

1117

L3

L13

L9

L17

W18

1.0

17

VITOLD JOHN SORON

937

L12

L14

L18

W16

L9

1.0

18

GABRIEL MORRIS

unr.

L6

L15

W17

L13

L16

1.0

The next event is scheduled for Saturday, November 10, during the second game of the World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. We will have live coverage of this game during our tournament.